This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Police are crediting a 7-year-old boy with saving his mother from potentially serious injuries during a domestic violence incident in northwest Salt Lake City.

The boy called 911 about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday from his home near 600 North and 400 West, saying his mother was being beaten by his father.

When Salt Lake City police arrived, the 31-year-old father, screaming profanities, confronted and threatened the officers in his front yard with a knife and a screwdriver, at one point throwing the knife in their direction.

Ordered to drop the screwdriver, the suspect complied, but then battled officers when they moved in to take him into custody, eventually wrestling him to the ground.

Eventually subdued, the father was first checked out by paramedics and treated for minor injuries, then booked into the Salt Lake County jail on suspicion of domestic violence in the presence of a child, resisting arrest, assault, assault on a police officer.

An ex-con with a criminal record ranging from burglary and firearms violations to a 2009 child abuse conviction, he was being held on an Adult Probation and Parole order.

SLCPD Detective Dennis McGowan said the mother sustained minor injuries, but refused transport to the hospital or treatment.

The child was unharmed and remained in the custody of his mother.

Twitter: @remims